Hunters and Unicorns

Hunters and Unicorns: Playbook Universe - Graham Moreno #002

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies. In this special edition series The 33 CXOs we investigate the greatest success story in the history of software sales.

 

Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry. In this episode we sit down with Graham Moreno, Regional Vice President, Central, Southeast, and LatAm at Grafana Labs to take a look back at his incredible career trajectory and discuss how his early indoctrination in the Playbook community at MongoDB shaped and influenced his leadership style today, enabling him to recognise the huge opportunity presented by Grafana Labs and play an incremental role in scaling this company from 30 to 1000 employees in just three and a half years.

“They had almost $5 million in revenue. No salespeople, no customer success people, it was a team of very extraordinarily talented engineers and I just remember sitting at a bar with Raj and saying, " I think there's the opportunity to do something really amazing here." And he was like, "I do too, but I'm not a sales guy." After a couple of months, I joined and it's really been incredible.”

Founded in 2014 by Raj Dutt, Torkel Ödegaard and Anthony Woods, Grafana Labs has not only experienced overwhelming growth in recent years, it has also been recognized for the second year in a row as one of America’s best start-up employers.

We ask Graham to guide us through his experience of scaling the hiring process from the bottom up at Grafana Labs and how he implemented structure in the early stages of development using the foundations of Playbook methodology to create a successful growth strategy based on both repetition and continual evolution.

Offering advice and guidance to current and future leaders, Graham insists that it’s not only the Playbook but the people and culture of Grafana Labs — which fosters transparency, autonomy, and accountability — that has proven to be the cornerstone of the company. No matter how big the organization gets or how fast it scales, leaders are dedicated to prioritising culture above revenue, staying true to company values and building long lasting relationships to improve communication and cultivate trust and respect. “With experience and maturity, I have learned to communicate a lot more effectively because as we've gotten bigger, it is so important that even if you disagree, you're able to do it in a way that is opening up a productive conversation and I don't think I was always awesome at that early on. I've had an opportunity to evolve - if you look at the most effective selling teams at Mongo and Grafana, it's the teams where customer success, engineering, and marketing are all onboard and working together and there's a really good environment in terms of how we're sharing knowledge and what we're able to bring to our customers as a result.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

The framework that enabled Graham to scale the Grafana Labs workforce from 30 to 1000 employees in record time

How to maintain high performance throughout your career by surrounding yourself with astonishing talent and learning to accept feedback

How to scale the hiring process through periods of rapid growth How to protect the culture of an organisation as it scales Graham Moreno understands exactly

How to build a sales force to stand the test of time.

We discuss key challenges and accomplishments from Graham’s journey at Grafana Labs and what he believes to be the core ingredients needed for a company to reach unicorn status. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

CULTURE IS THE SUM OF EVERY DECISION | Culture Crunch - Chelsea Krakowski

Welcome to Culture Crunch. We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement. By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

- Why engagement is critical

- The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion

- How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Chelsea Krakowski, innovator of people at AuditBoard, to discuss her thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out how a work environment centred around communication, feedback and core company values can inspire teams, deliver customer success, and foster innovation.

“We make hundreds of decisions every single day from the way that we choose to bring ourselves to work in the morning, the approach to the work, the communications, and also those really big decisions. It's all of it. I hope that that framing it through that mindset empowers individuals who may not feel like decision makers, to know that they're having a meaningful impact on shaping the culture - if everyone's shaping the culture, it creates an accountability and a responsibility for everyone to be making decisions every day that help move the culture in the direction that we want it to go.”

Throughout her career, Chelsea has helped to scale global organizations and transform them from the inside out by unleashing the potential of their employees. In this podcast, she offers advice to forward-thinking leaders on the importance of developing a human-centred culture that treats employees as valued individuals who are respected, empowered, and trusted. As technology continues to change at an accelerated pace, Chelsea offers a holistic look at creating a desirable workplace culture and highlights the need for innovation and transformation of culture-building strategies in modern tech organisations.

Whilst leaders play a vital role in defining the culture they want for their company; Chelsea explains how workplace culture is the result of everyone's behaviour. She has witnessed first-hand how participation drives a strong sense of ownership and encourages leaders in this space to ask for continuous feedback from their teams, welcome new ideas from employees and embrace failure to create an environment of open communication, inclusivity, and progression. With a variety of tools and techniques to help you transform your workplace culture, listen to discover Chelsea’s future-proofed solutions to grow revenue, engage remote teams, and innovate the people space.

THE REAL COST OF EMPLOYEE TURNOVER | Culture Crunch - John Germinario

Welcome to Culture Crunch.  

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement. 

By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover: 

• Why engagement is critical  
• The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion  
• How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players 

Today we are joined by John Germinario, Senior Director, Head of People at PebblePost, to discuss his thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out how creating a culture that is centred around collaboration and cross-functional interaction can improve the workplace environment and lead to increased performance and retention.  

“The best company cultures are ones where people feel like they can be collaborative at all levels of the organization. At a smaller organization it's a bit easier, but even at a larger organization when an entry-level person can rub elbows with the CFO and people feel like they're heard not only from a professional, but a personal perspective, I think that allows all of us to feel a level of family.” 

Having previously served as Director, Human Resources at The Avon Company, now part of LG H&H Americas, John understands how to support rapid business growth via people programs. Bringing over 10 years of HR experience to our discussion today, he describes the strong relationship between culture and recruitment that comes into play during employee sourcing, selection, and retention and highlights the need for evolution and leadership development in order to overcome key corporate culture challenges facing employers in the tech space. 

John witnesses first-hand how the culture around tech is changing as employee expectations evolve and has seen how a widespread, inclusive mindset and a more flexible approach to leadership can start by simply listening to employees, responding to their feedback, and making them feel heard. The tech industry is all about moving fast, testing everything, and innovating with the times. John believes that it is now essential for tech companies to apply that same work ethic to boost their cultures and processes to retain and attract talent.  

The best investment you can make for your company is an investment in your team. Listen to discover John’s strategies for empowering leaders and improving company culture. Learn how to develop your hiring process by throwing outdated credentials out the door and expanding the talent pool to actively participate in inclusive recruitment and positively impact your growth rates. 

SPONSORSHIP AND ADVOCACY | Culture Crunch - Dalton Van Hatcher

SPONSORSHIP AND ADVOCACY | Culture Crunch - Dalton Van Hatcher

 

Welcome to Culture Crunch.

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement. By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical

The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion

How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Dalton Van Hatcher, Chief Customer Officer at Felux and co-founder of Us in Technology, to discuss his thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out why creating a culture that is centred around diversity and inclusion can improve the workplace environment and radically increase performance.

“It starts with diversity of mindset. Having people from different walks of life and different experiences is a big part of that. Diversity is not just about race, it's not about skin colour, it's not about gender, it's beyond that, it's about diversity of mindset. So having people from lots of different walks of life is going to help you be creative and overcome better challenges.”

Dalton started his career under the leadership of the legendary John McMahon and Dev Ittycheria as an SDR at BladeLogic. As an early employee, he helped build several multi-billion-dollar businesses and high-performance growth functions including IPOs at BladeLogic, Sumo Logic, and Fuze. He is now a board advisor for several tech companies and has helped Co-found a DEI Platform: Us in Technology helping underrepresented talent get into Tech. Addressing the massive pipeline problem of diversity and gender gap in tech, Dalton discusses the need for more understanding around the practices and the barriers that minorities and underrepresented communities face and how his company, Us in Technology, is working to close this gap whilst simultaneously coaching organizations to see past potential unintentional discrimination in their hiring practices.

Whilst many companies are now being more intentional about ramping up their diversity and inclusion efforts, Dalton highlights key challenges preventing leaders from deepening their candidacy pool and achieving their goals. He provides guidelines for companies to consider when developing a successful workplace diversity and inclusion strategy and offers advice to senior leaders on the importance of externally increasing awareness by reaching out to marginalized communities as well as internally nurturing new workforces through their career progression and adhering to individual needs to enable people with varied skillsets to succeed.

“Diverse teams outperform homogenous teams by 30%, so this is a business problem, it's not just a societal problem.”

Listen to discover Dalton’s strategies on how to build and lead a diverse team in the tech industry and why driving DEI transformation is mission critical to early-stage start-ups. Learn how to develop your hiring process, deepen your talent pool, and actively participate in inclusive recruitment to positively impact your company culture and growth rates.

INNOVATION AND THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP | Culture Crunch - Ni’coel Stark

INNOVATION AND THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP | Culture Crunch - Ni'coel Stark

Welcome to Culture Crunch.

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement.

By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical

The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion

How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Ni’coel Stark, Organizational Systems Officer and Decision Intelligence Coach, to discuss her thoughts on the key human challenges connected to working in a highly innovative tech environment and how to improve company culture in line with technological advancement through innovation of current workplace systems.

“The biggest problem that companies have is when their brands do not match who they are because brands tend to be descriptions of values and principles yet who they are as humans inside a company are not that. Company culture is simply when we match who we say we are, and I think that that requires a human centeredness that is above the product or service that we are providing. Who we are as a company in business is equally or more important than what we produce.”

Ni'coel's professional life focuses on relationships and technology that power the future of culture, human systems, and innovation. As a thought leader in this space, she recognizes the importance of authenticity in relation to company values and has witnessed the human cost associated with the widening gap between product innovation and cultural evolution. Having observed a dramatic rise in anxiety amongst employees in the tech sector in recent years, Ni’coel believes that current workplace systems need to be updated to enable employees to adapt to new circumstances propelled by science and technology. Challenging leaders to rethink the way they are building their companies, especially in terms of communication and constructing an authentic brand identity, Ni’coel puts forward three philosophical pillars designed to progress organisational and operational systems and drive cultural development in the workplace from a more holistic standpoint. Reflecting on the key challenges associated with merging technology with the human experience, Ni’coel offers a variety of tools and techniques to help you empower your employees, build trust, and transform your workplace culture. Listen to discover how to leverage intelligence within your ecosystem and achieve the positive culture you envision for your team by putting your people at the centre of your organisation.

18. Hunters and Unicorns - 202020 Mastery Mission - Part 2 - The Stories - Kyle Kearns

In this story session we cover:  

- Examples of Kyle’s data driven strategy to early procurement

- How to use data tracking to create repeatability and streamline your sales strategy

- Why expansion deals take less time to secure than land deals

- Kyle’s multi-threaded approach to prospecting in a consumption-based world

Today we are joined by Kyle Kearns, regional sales director at Starburst, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive.

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover more on how to adapt your mindset and apply Kyle’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for improving accountability within your ecosystem and how to use data collection to help your team accelerate and land deals. “Are you on the mission?”

18. Hunters and Unicorns - 202020 Mastery Mission - Kyle Kearns

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Kyle Kearns, Regional Sales Director at Starburst. In this interview, why he is so passionate about data collection and accountability in this ever evolving, consumption-based marketplace and what it takes to thrive in this environment.

“I review my business for the previous week and the week ahead. How many new business meetings have I got set up for that week? What are the key impact meetings that I've got set up for that week? Collecting that data becomes important, particularly when you start to land deals six - nine months in. When you start to land these enterprise accounts, you can reflect on that data and then you can understand, how many meetings did it take to land that organization? How many partners were involved as a result of this?”

Kyle elaborates on the complexity of closing deals in pre-IPO tech companies and explains the operating rhythm and constant analysis required to effectively track data in the early stages of growth to create a blueprint for repeatable success. With advice for both reps and managers on how to use research and smart prospecting to close deals, Kyle offers tips and insights on the power of data and how you can use it to help you stay in control of your position in the deal cycle, prioritise your time and increase your efficiency. Kyle talks on his chosen topic of ‘Accountability’ and why he believes that it is the key to success, especially in pre-IPO tech companies. With an abundance of experience as ‘first man on the ground' in early-stage technology companies, Kyle offers his advice to individuals considering a role at pre-IPO tech organisations. He explains Listen to our story session to discover more on how to adapt your mindset and apply Kyle’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for improving accountability within your ecosystem and how to use data collection to help your team accelerate and land deals.

THE POWER OF INCREMENTAL CHANGE - Hunters and Unicorns presents Culture Crunch - Susan Whittemore

Welcome to Culture Crunch.  

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement. 

By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover: 

• Why engagement is critical  
• The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion  
• How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players 

Today we are joined by Susan Whittemore, Revenue Operations Leader at TeamPay, to discuss her thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out why creating a culture that values mental health can improve the workplace environment and lead to increased performance from employees and teams.  

“There is a cost to a bad culture. A lot of times we don't see it, we don't measure it, we don't put it on that balance sheet, but there is a performance tax that takes place when you have a rogue culture. If there is on the surface, a sense of belonging, but then behind closed doors individuals are feeling isolated, you're not going to get the optimum performance that you hired them originally for – this is happening with organizations that are spending so much time, energy, and money hiring, and yet they're losing their employees 6-12 months later.” 

With an extensive background in analytical thought leadership, Susan has experienced first-hand how a toxic workplace culture can be the best predictor of employee attrition, particularly in the tech sector. With a focus on data-driven solutions and innovation, technology companies have a tendency to put products above all else when it comes to creating meaningful change, sometimes to the detriment of their employees. Susan puts forward pivotal strategies for today’s leaders on how to create a more synchronised and cohesive work environment. She offers tangible steps on how to develop a positive people-first culture and retain A Player talent by aligning your organisation, facilitating communication between all revenue-generating teams, and taking time to understand what drives people both professionally and personally.  

Reflecting on the challenges behind us and how to position yourself for the future, Susan illuminates the path forwards and identifies simple and inexpensive measures you can take today to empower your employees, build trust, and transform your workplace culture. Listen to discover how to put people at the centre of your organisation to create a work environment that not only reflects the core mission and values of your company but also allows you to continually improve and scale at a faster, more predictable rate.   

 

17. Hunters and Unicorns - 202020 Mastery Mission - Part 2 - The Stories - David Boyle

In this story session we cover:  

- How to beat competition using the Value Framework

- Recent examples of how David has used the Value Framework to win transformational deals

- Examples from David’s past of how not using the value framework has led to failure Strategies that will help you test whether your champion is ready to sell on your behalf.

Today we are joined by David Boyle, Strategic Accounts leader at Aware, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive.

17. Hunters and Unicorns - 202020 Mastery Mission - David Boyle

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns,

20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

 

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

 

Today we are joined by David Boyle, Strategic Accounts leader at Aware. In this interview, David presents his understanding of The Value Framework and how to use it as a powerful tool to grow your sales organization. David explains the key characteristics of the Value Framework and its capacity to help you articulate the worth and differentiation of your products in a way that has meaning to your buyers. He talks us through how a well-defined sales messaging strategy can be implemented not only by reps, but also by managers and leaders to provide consistency and increase your chances of success through mutual understanding and shared hypothesis.

 

“You’ve got to slow down. You're really making sure you're not misunderstanding each other, and you’ve got to really dig in as to the implications of not doing anything. It's how voracious and aggressive you are at qualifying and making sure that the hypothesis becomes a shared hypothesis and if you get agreement on this document, and if you're the scribe, you're in control of things.”

 

Giving examples from his own experience, David elaborates on how to use the Value Framework to solidify alignment with your buyer and establish a strong data-driven foundation for all phases of the customer journey. He also emphasises the importance of highlighting potential career progression opportunities for your champion during the qualification stage as well as the company-wide benefits that would result from investment in your solution. With advice for both reps and managers on how to leverage the Value Framework, David offers tips, insights, and tools to help you develop your persona-based messaging, align your business outcomes with your customer’s pain points, and drive more successful sales cycles.

 

Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply David’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for developing value-focused messaging and aligning your sales organization with the Value Framework to create sophisticated, metric-based business cases that will increase trust in your solution and improve your close rates.